Improvement in water-wheels



ZSheets-Sheet N0. 122,588. Patentedlan.9,1872.

www Emu im ia PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. ELMER, )FY BERLIN, WISCONSIN.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WHEELS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,588, dated January 9,1872; antedated January 6, 1872.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. ELMER, of Berlin, in the county of GreenLake and in the State of Visconsin, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Water Wheel 5 and do hereby declare that-the followingis a full, clear, and exact description thereof, refen ence being had tothe accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereonmaking a part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction and arrangementof a waterwheel77 designed to be used with or in the water-wheel casingfor which Letters Patent were granted me December 6, 1870.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionappertains to make and use the same, I willnow proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawing, in which-A Figure 1 is a side View, and Fig. 2 a bottom view ofthe wheel. Fig. 3is a plan view, part in section, of the casing, showing the position ofthe wheel within the same.

My wheel is constructed upon the J onval or downward plan, but the hubor foundation A y is tapering, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. Thishub or foundation is to be keyed to a central upright shaft. B Brepresent the buckets, .which are rounded at the inside corners a. Tokeep the correct position of each bucket next the hub, the firstrequisite is the taper or funnel-shaped hub, in order to let the water,to a certain amount, pass freely through the wheel. It will be noticedthat at the top of the wheel the bucket is just the width of the chutethrough which the water passes in going to the wheel 5 but at the bottomthe bucket is as wide as the chute is high, so as to allow its freeescape; but in order to prevent the water from rushing too easy to thecenter the buckets are raised on the inside or center edge b, which yobliges the water to pass an incline to the center and downward in goingfrom the wheel. The second point is the position of the bucket, which ison an incline from the top to the bottom.

It will be seen that when the wheel is in the case the water is owing ontwo buckets from one chute at the same time. One object of this is toequalize the water so that when the bucket is passing the point of theguide, and is taking water on the point of the bucket from one chute, itis also taking water on the bot tom of the bucket from the next chute,which prevents any direct cut off of the water and keeps the bucketsalways full, giving a very even and steady motion. Another' object ofleaning theV bucket over is to prevent a too ready discharge of thewater.

It is practically correct that water presses both ways or all waysalike, and as there is as much pressure down as there is directly to thewheel, it is necessary to set the bucket in such a position that thewater coming into the wheel will, in a measure, hold itself in thewheel, and the Apressure down will force the wat-er out of the wheel.The position that these buckets are placed is about twenty-two and ahalf degrees at the lowest point of pressure, which has a tendency toforce the water upon the bucket, and the pressure down forces it out,which brings the two points of pressure in contact with each otherbefore the water leaves the wheel. By this means the strongest possiblemotion of any turbine-wheel is obtained, and also the least amount ofwater is run through in proportion to the measurement of the gates andissues.

Having thus fully described my invention, y

what I claim as new', and desire to secure' by Letters Patent, is-

The buckets B B, attached to the tapering hub A, and constructed asherein describedthat is, inclined from top to bottom, the inside cornersa a rounded and the inside or center edges b b raisedal1 substantiallyin the manner and for the purposes herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this26th day of May, 1871.

WM. H. ELMER. Witnesses WM. R. DAVIS,

CLEMENT S. PEoK. (168) t. if.

